This Italian sausage patty deep dish pizza tasted great, but as you can see by the photo,even though I had pressed this thing all the way out to the edge,the sausage patty shrunk quite a bit and migrated toward the center.

I'm not a big fan of talking about "shrinkage" (sorry - bad joke),but this is something I'm haven't found a thread about in this forum.

I used the sausage right out of the fridge. Would letting the sausage warm up a bit before using it reduce the shrinkage?

Would leaner sausages be better or worse for this problem?

Any ideas on how to reduce the shrinkage?

a reference video for applying the sausage (shot at a Lou Malnati's) :

Mine did the exact same thing! Not to that extent, but it did somewhat. It is like the sauce and the patty became one solid mass that moved together just like that, and it got worse after the pie cooled and the one piece left was refrigerated. I somewhat suspect that my reason was because I didn't have enough sauce on top, and that my sauce didn't have enough moisture.

I think it may work just like a hamburger or meatball, the more residual moisture around or in the meat, the less loss in size you get. A tad thicker application of sauce and a little less sauce draining and I think it may cure my "shrinkage" problem. I'm just going off my meatball and hamburger experiences though, but those are quite frequent around this house.

A leaner sausage would almost certainly help. A less densely packed sausage will also help. Lower heat will help. A better sealed pie will help. If the sausage seems to rise in the middle and shrink around the edges, a middle depression at the start would help.

Proteins in the meat tighten (e.g., think of handmade hamburger patties on the grill). I like to thrown down bits of the sausage to make 100% coverage that way, the same way I do with the sliced cheese.

Proteins in the meat tighten (e.g., think of handmade hamburger patties on the grill). I like to thrown down bits of the sausage to make 100% coverage that way, the same way I do with the sliced cheese.

Did you roll it out between wax paper? If not, try that.

I'm pretty much applying it like they do in that video I linked to - the little bits at a time, like you mentioned.

RCB, I think you may be on to something about moisture control. I may be over-draining my tomatoes. Next time I make an sausage patty deep dish, I'm going to use the Muir Glenn Crushed w/basil straight out of the can and see if that makes a difference.

Garvey, I might just have to use smaller bits when I put the sausage down. Early on, I tried rolling out the sausage patty into a disc, but it wasn't very practical as I kept tearing the wax paper while rolling, which would get stuck in the sausage.

DD, there were a few occasions where I've made my own bulk italian sausage from lean ground pork, and yes, I think the shrinkage was minimal, so a leaner sausage would be good if I could find one (or make my own again).

Ed, patty or no patty that still is a great looking pizza. I tried using patty sausage over the years and while good, I still prefer putting the sausage on in pieces much like the video showed. The meat in a sausage patty tends to stick or hold tightly together, so as it cooks, it has a tendency -- not always, but I think most of the time -- to contract and shrink as you indicated.

I'm pretty sure you're aware that only Gino's East and a number of No Name deep dish Chicago pizzerias use the patty sausage idea. I remember at their original location that it was the only sausage option, but some didn't like as much sausage, so Gino's East gave a second sausage option and called it "crumbled sausage" on their menu. But the problem developed at Gino's East in that there hardly was any sausage on the pizza when ordered with crumbled sausage. The cooks interpreted that to mean "very light (little) sausage on the pizza." But those who wanted a piece of pizza with a bit of sausage in every bite went back to ordering the patty sausage at Gino's East.

Uno's/Due's, Malnati's, Pizano's, original Gino's all put a lot of individual pieces of sausage on their pizzas, so much that it is often mistaken for a patty of sausage. Have you ever been to that butcher shop west of the loop that supposedly supplies Malnati's with their special bulk sausage (garlic but no fennel)? I think its Peoria Packing Co. (http://www.peoriapacking.com/). And Anichini Brothers, Inc. supposedly is the source for original Uno's/Due's sausage (http://www.anichinibrothers.com/Products.html) or do I have them mixed up? I think when I'm back in the area during the summer, I'd like to check their sausage out. Maybe you can scout them out if you haven't already.

How is the crust favor with only a 2 hr room temp rise? Is your dough formulation on your website?

Nate

Sorry for the late reply. I just noticed this post while I was researching for another one.

I think you mean flavor when you typed 'favor'. My deep dish crust tastes like the deep dish crusts of my youth, with a short rise time. I've even had decent results with 45 minutes to an hour of rising.Deep Dish crust is pretty mild, but all the stuff you put inside, like the sweet tomatoes and and salty meats like sausage and pepperoni make up for that. You will develop more flavor the longer you let your dough rise, but it's all personal preference.